BEIRUT: At least 12 pro-government fighters who are reportedly foreigners, were killed in a series of overnight airstrikes in eastern Syria, said a war-monitoring group on Thursday. The Syrian government-run media blamed the strikes on the US-led coalition fighting Daesh.
In Damascus, the SANA news agency said coalition aircraft struck military positions between the towns of Boukamal and Hmeimeh in Deir Ezzor province. It did not report any casualties.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war through a network of activists on the ground, said the fatalities were not Syrian nationals but foreign fighters. It said the coalition was likely behind the strikes.
The Pentagon said it had “no information” to substantiate reports the coalition was behind the latest airstrikes.
Syria’s government forces have relied on the support from the Lebanese group Hezbollah and other regional militias, organized by Iran to wage war on Syrian rebels and Daesh militants.
Their reach in Syria has alarmed the Trump administration in Washington and Netanyahu’s government in Tel Aviv, which say that Iran’s expansive networks in the war-torn country threaten Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will not allow Iran to threaten Israel from Syria. The Israeli military is believed to be behind dozens of airstrikes in recent years against Hezbollah, Iran, and Syrian military positions.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, days after President Donald Trump revoked America’s participation in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, has threatened Iran with the “strongest sanctions in history” unless Tehran withdraws all its forces from Syria and terminates its support for Hezbollah.
Iran has dismissed those threats, saying its forces are in Syria at the invitation of President Bashar Assad’s government.
The strikes targeted “movements” of pro-government forces, near the T2 oil pumping station, the Observatory said.
In February, coalition forces struck pro-government forces in eastern Syria that the US said had attacked US-backed Kurdish forces battling IS militants. It was later revealed the fatalities included a number of Russian private contractors. Russia is a key ally to Assad.
The Iraqi air force is also known to strike targets in eastern Syria. Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi has said it is part of his country’s effort to defeat Daesh militants at its borders, after the government declared it had defeated the jihadist group inside Iraq last year.
The United States, Britain and France bombed government facilities in April in retaliation for a suspected gas attack blamed on Assad’s forces.
Earlier this month, Israel bombed Iranian military positions in Syria in what it said was retaliation for Iranian strikes on the occupied Golan Heights. Israel called it its most serious operation in Syria since the 1973 Mideast war.

Sudan president Bashir to visit Qatar

Updated 21 January 2019

Reuters

January 21, 2019 22:14

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Sudan's president Omar Al-Bashir will arrive in Qatar on Tuesday, Qatar's state news agency reported.
It added that Al-Bashir would meet Qatar's Emir on Wednesday to discuss matters of common interest.

Sudan has been rocked by antigovernment protests calling for Al-Bashir to stand down.